There is Immense Business Opportunity in the Metering Space

Says Gautam Seth – Jt. Managing Director, HPL Electric and Power Ltd., in conversation with Monica Chaturvedi Charna...

How do you view the progress that India is making on the front of T&D infrastructure upgradation, digitalisation and the entire smart grid initiative?

Both the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana as well as the Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS) are progressing in terms of intent and design in a much better way now, despite the ground level challenges. The recently announced Budget 2017 also saw the allocation going up for both the programmes by 25 per cent, which is very encouraging. However, the implementation can surely improve.

The government has been emphasising on deployment of smart meters in a big way, and last month only Power Minister, Piyush Goyal announced that 25 crore smart meters will be procured. Thus, on a medium-term or long-term basis, there is immense business opportunity in the metering space.

Another major thrust on removing inefficiencies from the power distribution space is coming through the government’s UDAY scheme. 21 states have already signed up, with Tamil Nadu being the most recent state to sign up. There are a lot of efficiency parameters under UDAY which the utilities need to abide by, and herein metering plays a very important role. It will not just curb inefficiencies, but also improve the revenue of the utilities.

Somehow, we have seen delays in the implementation and in the first 6 months of 2016, we saw a slowdown in the procurement of meters from the utilities. The reason for this was the ambiguity between the Centre and the states with regard to the specifications and the procurement process. As a result, there were very few tenders and it was only by October-November that the tender process resumed to normal. Now, with new tenders coming up, the industry will surely come back on track.

How achievable do you think is the government’s target of deploying 25 crore meters in the next 3-4 years?